The past three days have been a fascinating juxtaposition of the seasons of parenting life.  God worked out the timing challenges we faced on Thursday and Friday by cancelling Marina’s oral surgery in a rather dramatic and unexpected way.  She was put under IV sedation, but the procedure had to be aborted due to upper airway obstruction.  The surgeon will attempt it again under general anesthesia in two weeks, and we are praying for a safe and uneventful surgery and that the cause of Thursday’s incident will be identified and resolved.

At approximately 3:30 pm that afternoon, our family sat in a traffic jam in Norfolk, Virginia about two blocks from CHKD and watched (via modern technology on my iPhone) as a small Cessna jet from Chicago touched down at Norfolk International Airport just a few miles away.  This air ambulance, doubling as a stork, carried two babies halfway across the country and a huge step closer to their forever family.  Fortunately, the traffic started moving just in time to keep me from getting out of the car and walking the rest of the way to the hospital.  I told the kids that this was adoption’s version of the pushing stage in labor—nothing would stop us now!

A short time later, we all stood in amazement as two ambulances—one pink and one blue—delivered Tess and Titus to their new family and their temporary hospital home.

They are now settled in at the NICU at CHKD, and WE ARE IN LOVE!!!

Once we got past the shocked security guard who said “all those people cannot possibly be one family,” we spent a lovely evening getting to know them and “Aunt Jane,” the social worker who has lovingly cared for them and worked so faithfully to match us together.  No one wanted to leave the hospital that evening, but we had to transition from this spring season of parenting to a winter one.

Jerry and I finished loading Maya’s possessions later that night and left in the early hours of Friday morning to drive her to Williamsburg.  We spent the day helping her settle into her freshman dorm at The College of William and Mary.  In the middle of the sweaty move-in day, Jerry got the exciting and somewhat unexpected news that he will be promoted to Captain!  The events of the day both exhausted and excited all of us.  Maya is now settled into her new home, and that departure was even more difficult than leaving the twins because I knew I would not see her tomorrow.  Part of my heart is now in Williamsburg, and I miss her dearly.

But today, I returned to the spring season as Saylor greeted me early this morning and begged to go to see her new brother and sister.  We took Granma, and all three of us marveled at Titus and Tess…not only their adorableness—which is off the charts!—but also all of the “normal” baby things they can do like cry and coo and suck on a bottle and grasp our fingers.  We cherished every minute and did not want to leave them, but they were both worn out from all of the attention.  We realized that it is critical to take multiple people on our visits because they are in separate parts of the NICU, so we need to divide and conquer to give them each enough attention.  Our time with them was sheer joy, and we are so incredibly excited about how well they are doing and counting the days until they can come home for good.

So, our oldest baby is in college now, and our littlest babies are not home yet but are a whole lot closer than they were a few days ago!  And I am left to marvel at this juxtaposition of parenting seasons…a spring season of new beginnings with two precious babies and a winter ending to one season of parenting Maya and the beginning of a whole new one.

God is so faithful to give me just the word I need at just the right time, and on August 23, the morning we left to take Maya, I read this in Jesus Calling:  “When you release loved ones to Me, you are free to cling to My hand.  As you entrust others into My care, I am free to shower blessings on them.  My presence will go with them wherever they go, and I will give them rest.  This same Presence stays with you, as you relax and place your trust in Me.  Watch and see what I will do.”

His presence and blessings are on Maya at W&M and on Tess and Titus at CHKD—and on me in both these spring and winter seasons of parenting.  Thank you, Lord for these incredible blessings and the ones in the “in-between seasons.”